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Your eyes aren't just advanced visual systems capturing images of what's around you. New research published in the Journal of Neuroscience shows that when our eyes perceive visual stimuli, it gets encoded in our brains in ways that change our emotional reactions.

Co-authors Keil and Vladimir Miskovic, Ph.D., both members of the University of Florida Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, examined the effect of competing danger and safety cues within the visual cortex. They found that even people who don't have anxiety disorders respond visually at the sight of something scary while ignoring signs that indicate safety. This contradicts a common belief that only people with anxiety disorders have difficulty processing comforting visual stimuli, or "safety cues."

The study results could help distinguish between normal and abnormal processes within the visual cortex and identify what parts of the brain are targets for the treatment of anxiety disorders. Check out the video below for more on this important research: